Tomatoes have a special place in my heart. I’m not a huge fan of the actual fruit anymore (the reason why is coming up), but I love all things derived from tomatoes – sauces, salsas, ketchup. And I love to grow the plant. I think I love them because one of my most cherished childhood memories is about garden fresh tomatoes. My grandfather, or Papa, had a pretty amazing green thumb; his garden remains legendary in my mind.

Pretty heirlooms!

When I was little, it was a big deal to spend the night at my town Grandparents. Grandma and Papa spoiled us with Mickey Mouse shaped pancakes in the morning and cable (we didn’t get more than four channels until I was in high school, country livin!). After dinner, it was a big deal for Papa and me to head out to his garden to water, harvest his vegetables and pick tomato worms.

As little five-year old me was searching for those awful tomato worms, I remember telling Papa that I didn’t like tomatoes because “they were gross”. At some point during my little life I must have eaten off-season, store tomatoes and decided all tomatoes were like that. Papa gently picked some ripe cherry tomatoes off his vines and told me to eat one. Surprisingly, I did. And it was glorious. I remember shoving those little jewels in my mouth as fast as I could, being totally surprised at the sweet, warm burst in my mouth, it was like candy. I did that until I threw up. What can I say; I’ve never been good with moderation.

Every time I see a tomato plant, I remember my Papa and his warm cherry tomatoes. It’s a very happy memory. I think that memory is why my favorite part of my Monsanto tour was learning about tomatoes.

The tomato rows at Monsanto’s farm. I wanted to frolic through them. But I restrained myself. Barely.

Learning about tomato breeding from actual tomato breeders! Nope, not a big deal. Not at all. (OMG IT WAS SO COOL)

Doug the Tomato Dude was our tour guide for the tomato portion of our tour. He was passionate about his tomatoes! By the time he left us, I wanted to start researching tomatoes too. He made it sound so interesting, and it is! He told us his passion for growing things came early (something I totally identify with), he grew garden peas as a kid. His fresh garden peas tasted nothing like canned peas – and there you go – inspiration comes from the simplest things!

Learning from the expert!

Doug is working on a breeding project where he is using various naturally-occurring genes to improve heirloom tomatoes! He explained that there are three natural color mutations in the heirloom realm, tiger stripe, purple and a bi-color (like Rainbow). Working with these three mutations he can breed tomatoes with different levels of acidity, sugars, and volatiles (what you smell) . Something for everyone!

Doug’s goal is to make tomatoes that taste as good or better than existing heirlooms while having the level of fruit setting and disease resistance of modern tomatoes. And he wants to find ways so we can have heirloom quality taste much longer than the current seasonal window. In addition to making tomatoes taste better for us consumers he is also using tools from his genetic toolbox to help the farmer by eliminating cracking in the fruit (less waste!) and increased setting of the fruit (more product with less resources!). Doug is using genetic material that is over 60 years old along with some of the new great things he’s found! I think it is amazing that Doug and Monsanto are keeping these old genes alive and in production. Notice that is something you never hear about from the media. This germplasm dates back many decades and is responsible for long-time home garden favorites such as Better Boy, Big Boy, and Early Girl. By combining the past and the present some great things can happen that both preserve flavor for the consumer and add value to the grower.

Grow babies, grow!

Doug’s tomatoes are fresh market tomatoes, you know, the tomatoes you buy at the store. As I mentioned above, I think many of us are scarred from the tasteless, pretty tomatoes that dominated the store shelves for years. But Doug is changing that! Doug wants to see more heirlooms on the shelves; he wants more variety, more diversity so consumers can have a choice. (Isn’t that just music to your foodie ears? It was to mine!)

Doug mentioned that he loves to eat his own tomatoes, and his family does too. In fact he said he was making his family BLT’s with seedless tomatoes that very night for dinner doesn’t that sound fabulous?

More heirlooms, so pretty!!!

The most exciting thing I learned during this portion of my tour was about the seedless tomatoes that have been developed, the Sweet Seedless. My Grandma has diverticulitis, so foods with little seeds, (like tomatoes), hurt her, she actually cannot eat them. This is unfortunate for people like my Grandma, because it can affect her nutrition. I plan on going to over to my Grandma’s house next spring and planting some Sweet Seedless in Papa’s old garden plot, so my Grandma can eat something she loves again. I think my Papa would be super proud of me.

Meeting Doug the Tomato Dude and learning about his work in tomatoes was marvelous. Being an animal science person, it is wonderful for me to learn more about plant science. I was able to make the connection in my head that like cattle, plants often benefit from different breeding techniques. These techniques and technologies are changing agriculture for us farmers and ranchers in the best possible way – we can produce more with less, we can increase the nutritional content of some foods, we can increase diversity, and we can give our consumers more choice! What an amazing time to be involved in agriculture!

11 Responses to Field Trip: Monsanto and Tomatoes

Meg, It was so fun showing you around the site! After meeting Doug, I enjoy my own tomatoes more and look at tomatoes at the farmers’ market & grocery store with a greater sense of wonder! Thanks for writing this up and I’m sure you make your Papa proud in so very many ways!

I’m sure you make your Papa very, very proud! I’ll admit I don’t eat tomatoes because I find them gross, but I know at one point I used to eat them fresh out of my grandma’s garden and I liked them. I’m planning to grow a few next year to make salsa with. People need to hear more stories like this when it comes to the topic of GMO crops – much like the food animal industry the practices in place to raise food are not evil but actually intended for good.

Awesomeness!! I actually grew into loving tomatoes b/c of my grandma. By the time I got to high school I could eat a tomato like an apple, and I considered that monumental. Now I totally LOVE them, esp heirloom & cherry tomatoes. I think it’s so cool the type of work Doug is doing to improve the quality of such a great fruit! I’m also intrigued by the fact that he’s using 60 yr old genetic material in his research. I’m glad you had such a great experience & grateful that you are sharing that experience with your readers! ;0)

5 days agoby megraebSuper bummed that my yarden is being removed. I was just finally starting to get the hang of gardening in it. I'm gonna hauling in more soil and plant my citrus trees in the ground now. But still, watching your garden go is upsetting! #aghag#atleastIhaventplanted#bummer

6 days agoby megraebThe animals were very needy tonight. Luna decided she was a lap dog and needed to be held and Little decided he was a lap pig and also needed to be held. And Boo (not pictured) decided she was gonna cuss everyone out. Ranch politics are hard. #everyoneneedslove#attention#aghag

1 week agoby megraebThe thing you don't know about fires is it doesn't end with the fire. There is clean up and testing and more clean up. Looks like I'm losing my last trees, my olive and fig. The old back porch and foundation from the land grant mansion is going as well. Maybe part of my yarden too. It's tough. The ranch looks completely different already, this will make it even more foreign to me. #change#byebyefigs#sigh#history